What a Wonderful World
by PKAquaFlame
Summary: Novelization of TWEWY. When Neku woke up in the middle of the scramble crossing of Shibuya with no memory, a text, and a pin, he knew something was amiss. He soon finds out how right he was - he is a Player in a deadly Game where his life is on the line. And with the new threats surrounding him, he is faced with the only way to survive...trusting his partner.


Disclaimer: I don't own _The World Ends With You._

So I've really wanted to do this since I got the game (which was a little more than a week ago), and that feeling's only grown when I beat the game a few days ago. I'm probably going to try making each chapter a different day, with little drabble/oneshot things divided into each chapter. Why am I doing this, you ask? Because I've always wanted to actually finish a project with this format. The sections might be the longest in the beginning, but with any luck they'll be manageable.

Without further ado, enjoy!

* * *

_I - Shibuya_

He hated it when he was stuck in the crowds...

_Get outta my face! You're blocking my view!_

The chatter annoyed him more than _anything_...

_Shut up! Stop talking._

And it wasn't even the city he was annoyed with. City life he was fine with...it was the _people_ that came along with it.

_Just go the hell away!_

His whole life he's lived in Shibuya - one of the main shopping districts in Japan and one of the many centers of fashion - and the chatter seemed to irritate him more and more by the year. Friends laughing, lovers being affectionate...he never understood how people could trust one another like that. He was a rather bright young man - he knew how to respond to things, at least...except when it came to people. They were complex; they could say one thing and mean a different thing entirely, they could stab you in the back...he knew all of these things. Sometimes he wished they would all just go away.

Wouldn't it have been simpler if he was the only person he had to deal with? Certainly. Other people didn't matter in his line of thinking. That's why he pushes them away any chance he got; he has his values, which was taking off on his own and being his own person. As far as he's concerned, they can take their own values and shove it.

_I don't get people, _he thought to himself as he watched the girl in one couple suddenly slap her boyfriend (possibly for something he said?). His nose crinkled in distaste.

_ Never have, never will._

* * *

_II - Seven Days_

When Neku Sakuraba woke up in the middle of the scramble crossing, he knew _something_ was amiss.

Pain hammered into his head as he slowly got up, but it disappeared as quickly as it came. All that was left was confusion - why did he suddenly wake up in the scramble crossing...and why didn't the crowd turn his head into scrambled eggs while he was down?

How did he get here, anyway? What was he doing last...?

He racked his brain for an answer, but found nothing. It was like the memory of the last few hours (Days? Weeks? Years?!) were plucked from his brain. He couldn't remember _anything_ except for his name.

Weird.

He wildly checked his pockets - _what if something got stolen?!_ - but he found his music player, cell phone and wallet, much to his relief. He felt something else, in the pocket where his wallet was. He took the object out and observed it; it was a black pin with something that looked like a white skull painted on it.

He tossed it in his hand - looking back, he would remember that he had no real reason to do that - and instantly, the chatter of the people surrounding him seemed to double in intensity and weight; it nearly overwhelmed it. It probably would have if the noise didn't fade away as soon as it intensified.

"What the hell was that?!"he yelped in his shock. "I could hear voices in my head!"

If anybody heard him, they paid him no mind. They might have thought he was just another crazy person or something. But that didn't matter right now.

_What just happened? _he thought, glancing at the pin he held in his hand._ And where'd this pin come from?_

He tried racking his brain for an answer to this mystery when it hit him; what if the pin and what just happened were connected somehow?

Thinking that, he closed his fingers around the pin and closed his eyes. Instead of the onslaught of voices, thoughts and voices seemed to flow gently into his head, one at a time.

**_I wonder if the Prince updated yet...?_**

**_That tears it! I'm going to make a scent of my own! I wonder what I'm going to call it...oh! I'll call it The Scent of Cute!_**

**_I can't believe he said that! 'You're a venom, baby, and I've contracted your poison'?! I can't tell if that was a compliment or an insult!_**

Neku let go of the pin and the voices stopped.

_Yep, those are definitely voices,_ he thought. _But why..._

Something didn't add up. The three people he had heard, he noticed that their mouths hadn't moved once. He thought about it for a minute when it hit him._ Am I hearing people's thoughts?!_

He tried to swallow his shock as he glanced at the pin again. _What the hell _is_ this pin?_

His musings were interrupted by his cell phone beeping. He took it out of his pocket and watched as the screen flashed, with the words 'New Message' appearing. He clicked the button and the message read, **"Reach 104. You have 60 minutes. Fail, and face erasure. - The Reapers."**

"Oh, haha. Really cute," he groaned. "One minute I'm reading people's thoughts, the next I get spam."

Without another word, he pressed 'Delete'...only to find that the message was still there. He tried this a few more times, but no results. He groaned at this.

"Weird. It's like junk mail from hell," he muttered. He was interrupted by a _whooshing_ sound, followed by a sharp pain in his right hand. He glanced at it...and found a timer, in red and black numbers, counting down from sixty minutes.

He looked around and saw that one of the large screens had blacked out, and had the words, **"YOU HAVE 7 DAYS"** written on it in red. To top it off, what appeared to be red and black symbols started closing in on him. Frogs came out of the symbols and stared menacingly at him.

"Frogs?!" he exclaimed.

One frog lashed his tongue at Neku, hitting his arm. He winced at the pain.

_That frog just attacked me! _he thought.

He took a few steps back; those frogs didn't look like they were about to retreat anytime soon. as he said, "D-down, froggie...Someone, help!"

He didn't know why he yelled that. Maybe it was because he panicked and didn't know what else to do. However...nobody responded. Not even one blink of acknowledgement or recognition. They just went on their merry way.

"Stop ignoring me!" he shouted, dashing to the nearest person and reaching for his arm - but when he went to grab it, his hand passed right through the arm. Neku stared in shock at the sight, until he was brought back to his senses by another attack.

_Crap! I gotta run!_

With nothing else to do, with nobody noticing him, that's exactly what he did.

* * *

_III - Mister Twister_

Neku ran as far as his legs could take him. Adrenaline pumped into his system and had him go as far as he could. He was so focused on getting away from those creatures that he didn't notice anything around him.

Not the pink-haired girl, who noticed Neku and wondered if the two of them were in the same situation (with him running like that, he had to be).

Not the boy with the black beanie, who seemed just as intent in getting somewhere as Neku was.

Not the pale boy with ashen hair, who noticed Neku and simply smirked.

And certainly not the strangely dressed, winged people on top of the nearby buildings, looking down on the city as if they were looking for prey.

Neku noticed none of that. All that mattered was getting away.

* * *

_IV - Yashiro and Kariya_

"Man, here we go again," the male commented, twirling the Tootsie Pop in his fingers. The female Reaper grinned, looking down at the city.

"Oh, shut up," she said, taking notice of a purple-clothed boy who seemed particularly weak. "It's been like forever since the last time we had work."

"Exactly, Yashiro," her companion responded. "It's like the first Monday after a vacation."

"Kariya, would you rather have a permanent vacation?" she asked sweetly. "Besides, it's Day One. That's the day with the most Players, so this is our chance to rack up some points! How else are you going to make up for your crappy job last month?"

Kariya threw his hands up, signifying surrender. "Fine. You win. One week _probably_ won't kill me. But while we're at it...why don't we play a little game?"

Yashiro put a finger to her chin at this, as if trying to hide her annoyance. "A gaaame?" she sang. "Do tell."

"So it doesn't feel like so much work," Kariya explained. "Come on, you love games."

"You know me all too well," she conceded, sighing. "Alright, fine. What's your game?"

"Reaper Sport Three: A Player Hunt," he responded, smirking. "Let's see who can get the most Players today."

"What? That's no fun!"

"You don't like it?"

"I'm going to crush you! There's no contest!"

"Zing!" he exclaimed, putting a hand to where his heart would be. "Now I have to _really_ try. Anyway, you know the drill; loser buys the winner ramen."

The two Reapers nodded their agreement and left the scene.

* * *

_V - Pact_

"I found one! Hey, you in the headphones!"

Neku jolted from his shock - at seeing people disappear upon contact with the weird symbols, at being cornered by those frogs from before...everything. He looked around and saw a pink-haired girl with a black cap waving frantically at him.

"Forge a pact with me!" she shouted when she saw Neku staring at her.

"Uh...my hands are kinda full here," he snapped, gesturing towards the frogs. "Maybe after they miraculously disappear..."

"Just listen! If we forge a pact, we can beat the Noise!"

"Why would you care about a little noise?!"

The girl groaned in frustration. "Do you _want_ to be erased?! You know,_ from existence_?! Just hurry up! We're running out of time! Make a pact with me, _please!_"

"Alright, alright!" Neku shouted, getting annoyed with this girl's shouting. "I accept!"

At that instant, a bright light appeared and connected Neku with the girl. He felt a warm sense that he just accomplished something important - a feeling of connection. The girl let out a sigh of relief at this, tossing something at Neku. He caught it and saw that it was another pin, except this one had red flames on it.

"Here, use this to get rid of the Noise! I promise I'll explain later!"

"Uh...okay?" he said, glancing at the fire pin again before facing the frogs again.

* * *

_VI - Shiki_

As Neku walked back into the scramble crossing, his mind swam with the events of the last five minutes.

He easily dispatched the frogs with the pin - which he realized allowed him to use fire - and after that the girl started talking about how good he was at using that pin (calling it a 'psych' or whatever) and how she got a really good partner. She then introduced herself as 'Shiki Misaki' and talked a bit about a game of some kind...what was it she called it, the Reaper's Game? It didn't matter; what was more important was finding out how this happened to Neku - why nobody could see or hear him besides Shiki.

And besides...partner? The idea made Neku shudder. He worked alone; he didn't need any sort of partner. Let alone some random girl that he just met in the streets, and...that's when he noticed Shiki was following him.

"Why are you following me?!" he demanded, whirling around to face her. She jumped at this.

"Why are you making it so hard to follow you?" she shot back.

"Screw you. I go wherever I want."

"Where are you going to go?!" she demanded. "If you haven't noticed, we're _trapped_ here, idiot!"

"What? Don't be ridiculous."

"And besides, we made a pact, remember? We're supposed to stick together! You can't fight the Noise alone...you won't survive!"

"Survive what?"

"The Game!" Shiki shouted, exasperated. "You want to win, right?"

Neku scoffed at this, muttering, "Yeah, right. Play your own stupid games."

"Hey, that's not funny!" she exclaimed. "If we don't win, we get erased! That's what happened to those people we saw before we made the pact. You wanna end up like them?"

Neku didn't respond, which prompted Shiki to continue, "We're partners. Partners work together."

"Hey! Don't drag me into this!" he demanded.

"You already _are_ dragged into it. You're a Player!"

"I'm not playing anything."

"Well, if you're not a Player...then explain why you have a Player Pin," Shiki responded, taking out a pin that looked exactly like the one Neku had before. "Also, there's a timer on your hand, isn't there?"

At this she held out her hand. There was a timer similar to Neku's as well, which caused him to blink in shock.

"What the hell!" he exclaimed. Shiki grinned at this.

"See? Case closed! You're a part of this, too," she concluded. She checked her timer and gasped.

"We can argue later!" she said, grabbing Neku's arm and dragging him. "We gotta get to Ten-Four! We've only got twenty minutes-!"

Neku jerked his arm out of her grasp and crossed his arms.

"Ten-Four?" he asked.

"Didn't you get the message?" she questioned. "Reach 104 or face erasure."

_She actually believes that piece of spam?! _Neku thought, giving her a skeptical look. He then blinked as he realized something; _Well,_ _today's been pretty weird already. Plus, she's going to follow me wherever I go...so I guess I'll play along until I figure things out._

"You know what?_ Fine_," he spat. "You win. Ten-Four it is. Lead the way, and don't drag me."

"_Thank_ you!" Shiki exclaimed. "Now, for the last time...tell me your name."

"...It's Neku. Neku Sakuraba."

"Neku, huh...that's a cute name."

"Oh, shut up."

* * *

_VII - 104_

"We're here!" Shiki cheered as they approached the 104 Building. Neku was still lost in thought.

_Yeah, and I think that guy in red had something to do with it, _he thought._ I thought I saw him staring at us before the wall disappeared. Before that we couldn't get through. _

That was when he noticed that the numbers were gone from his right hand.

"The timer's gone!" he exclaimed. Shiki let out a sigh of relief.

"That means the mission's done," she explained.

_"So what?,"_ a voice chimed._ "Only a complete moron would fuck up on Day One."_

"Who's there?!"Neku demanded. Shiki gulped.

"A Reaper...?" she asked.

_"You got it~!"_ the voice sang. _"Anyways, you two are bound to get erased sooner or later...so why not help a girl out and earn me some points~?"_

At this more Frog Noise started appearing...along with what appeared to be a cross between a bear and a rat.

"More Noise?!" Neku groaned.

"Neku, you know how to fight, right? Focus your thoughts on me!"

"What? Fight your own battles!"

"Please, Neku! We're partners, and this is the only way to stop the Noise!" she pleaded. Neku paused at this. He didn't like the fact that fate forced him to be partners with a random stranger from the streets...but at the same time...that large Noise did look tough. Not something he could handle by himself.

Like I have a choice in this, he thought.

"Hey, Stalker!"

"Don't call me that!" Shiki groaned.

"Just...don't screw up!"

Shiki blinked at this. Maybe that was his way of telling her to be careful? They only just met, so just maybe...

"I won't!"

_Some time later..._

After the large Noise disappeared in a bit of static, Shiki and Neku were exhausted from the exertion of the fight. Neku leaned on a nearby pole while Shiki sank to her knees.

"Well, that's done," she said. "But she's right. The Game just started, after all. What if the missions get harder with each day? Are we going to make it through six more days?"

Neku watched as she got more anxious, finally reduced to a shivering mess of fear. He didn't know if that was an aftereffect of the light show that came from forging a pact with her, but he could practically hear her unspoken sentence; _I don't want to be erased._

As Shiki checked her phone, Neku's questions seemed to multiply in his head.

_What is going on?! I'm really stuck in Shibuya?! I can't believe this! There's no way it can be true! _

But Neku couldn't really deny things. The wall that had blocked 104 seemed real enough (until that guy in red took it down, that is), and the pain that came from being struck by the noise...that was real too. And if he was dreaming, he surely would have woken up by now.

_What if I get erased?_ he finally thought, fearing that possibility. _What the hell kind of game _is_ this?! _

* * *

Oh wow. This is going to be a fun project, I can tell.

Please review! :)


End file.
